Improvement in dies for forming carriage-shackles



UNITED STATES PATENT OTEETCE.

HENRY M. BEECHER, OF PLANTSVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 116,012,dated June 20,1871.

To all lwhom t may concern:

" State of Connecticut, h. ve invented certain new and 'usefulImprovements in Machine for Forming Carriage-shackles, of which thefollowing is a specitication: l

My invention consists in the employment of swinging dies and a drop, thesaid dies being provided with points, and operating as hereinafterdescribed, whereby the conical cavities in the ears ofthe shackles areformed while in the bending-dies.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a side elevation of dies anddrop embodying my improvement 5 Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section ofthe same in position to receive the blank; Fig. 3, a similar section ofthe dies and their bed; Fig. 4, a central, vertical, and longitudinalsection of the same. Figs. 5 and 6 are end and top views of theshackle-blank before bending; and Figs. 7 ,8, and 9 are side, end, andtop views of said blank after being bent. V

A A designate swinging die-blocks, having dies a c on their faces of theform desired to finish the ears of the shackle. The die-blocks A A arehung or pivoted to the bed B at b, and may be thrown open, as shown inFig. 2. C is a drop or hammer, which may be arranged in any suitablemachine or frame, so as to be dropped or forced upon the die-blocks A A.rlhe hammer C has a projection, c, extending downward from its center,the width of which projection is equal to the space designed to leavebetween the ears ofthe shackle, and the length of said projection isequal to the depth of the die-blocks A A, minus the thickness of theback of the shackle, as shown in Fig. l. The blanks are tirst forged orstruck up in dies into the form substantially as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.The dies c a in the die-blocks A A are provided with points 7c k, toform conical recesses in the ears of the shackle, as hereinafterdescribed.

The operation is as follows: The die-blocks AA are thrown open untilstopped by contact with the stops d d, as shown in Fig. 1, when a blank,Figs. 5 and 6, yis laid with its ends h l1. resting in dies c c'of thedie-blocks A A. The hammer C is then dropped or forced upon the blank,when the projectionc strikes the same and forces the block n of theshackle downward, meanwhile the die-blocks swing on their pivots b b,follow theA blank, drawing toward each other, and thus throw the ears ofthe shackle toward the projection c of the hammer C, said hammerstriking the corners m m of the die-blocks A A, and forcing the same together, as shown in Fig. 1, in so powerful a manner as to cause thepoints lc k to leave their imprints in the ears, thus forming a conicalrecess b v which to drill the said ears--and at the same time formingthe blank, Figs. 5 and (iinto the shackle, Figs. 7, 8, and 9. The hammerC is then lifted, the dies opened, and the shackle removed, when anotherblank can be formed, as before described.

Ordinarily the conical recesses in the ears of the shackle Vhave beenformed in the dies which forge the blank before bending the sa me, asshown in the patent to W. B. Smith dated August 9, 1870, and others. Theshackle-blanks necessarily vary a little in being bent, or they are notbent exactly at equal distances from the center ot their length 5consequently the recesses which are formed thereinvprevious to bendingare not, when the blank is bent, directly opposite each other, or squarewith the shackle.

By placing the points 7c kin the swinging die-blocks, and dies a a and AA, these imprints are formed in the process of bending, as described,instead of in the dies with which the blanks a-re forged, and thereforesaid imprints are always uniform and square with the shackle, thusmaking a better article and often saving much labor in iittin g.

I do not claim the points le 7c, in combination with dies for forgingthe shackle-blank; but

' I claim as my invention- 1. Jointly, the swinging or hinged die-blocksA A, together with their dies, the bed B, and hammer C with itsprojection c, for use in the formation of carriage-shackles,substantially as described.

2. As an improvement'in machines for forming carriage-shackle blanksinto shackles, substantially as set forth, the points 7c k projectingfrom the bottom of dies c a., as and for the purpose set forth.

V HENRY M. BEECHER.

Witnesses:

C. A. SHEPARD, J AMES SHEPAED.

